Sugarbeet News

Sugar beets are moved with a large front-end loader as steam rises above the Western Sugar Co-op refinery in Billings in 2016.

GAZETTE FILE PHOTO

Montana’s sugar factories are going into overtime this year processing a record crop of sugar beets.

Western Sugar Cooperative in Billings plans to go into March turning beets into sugar. The company fired up the factory in late August, its earliest start in recent memory.

“The Montana crop ended up with 36.6 tons per acre, which set a record,” said Randall Jobman, Western’s vice president of agriculture, Northern Region.

In a more typical year, Western farmers would start an early harvest after the first week of September just to feed enough beets into the factory to prepare it for an October campaign.

This year, Western knew by late summer that it was going to need extra time to process all of its beets. With a full month of the sugar-making to go, there are massive beet piles on along the Yellowstone River still waiting to be trucked to Billings.

In Sidney, where sugar beets are still piled high, Duane Peters, agricultural manager at Sidney Sugars, expects to finish in a few weeks, but that’s because the factory fired up in September, instead of October, its usual beginning.

“It’s going great. We started the 16th of September,” Peters said. “We’re actually getting our vents in now early.”

Ventilation conduit is added to a beet pile to prevent the beets from spoiling as they wait to be fed to the factory for slicing.

Temperatures in the Sidney area have stayed below 30 degrees for a weeks, which is exactly where the temperatures need to be to preserve beets for a long time.

A year ago, Sidney Sugars processed beets weeks into March in order to capitalize on a record crop.

Agriculture is more than Montana’s number one economic driver, though that is critically important. Agriculture is our state’s heritage and its heart and soul. From the wheat and sugar beet fields to grazing cattle and sheep, visual reminders of agriculture’s important contribution to our Western way of life are all around us.

You certainly cannot miss the importance of sugar beets to our economy. Sugar beets support over 4,000 Montana jobs and contribute hundreds of millions of dollars to our state’s economy.

This was particularly evident to me during visits to Sidney Sugars and the Lower Yellowstone Irrigation Project’s (LYIP) Intake Diversion Dam. These two intricately tied operations have a significant impact on the area’s economy and Montana agriculture more broadly. The LYIP provides water for nearly 50,000 acres of sugar beets and other crops.

The fact is, without the critical water from the LYIP, Sidney Sugars would cease to exist. And while the LYIP is unfortunately currently tied up in unwarranted and unjustified litigation, I want to assure you that I will continue to support robust funding for the dam’s operation and will fight efforts to obstruct needed improvements or maintenance.

I am honored to be Montana’s only representative serving on the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. I am excited to represent your priorities on that critical committee and be the voice of Montana’s farmers and ranchers, particularly during negotiations to rewrite the next farm bill over the past year. It’s important that we reauthorize programs critical to Montana farmers and ranchers prior to the farm bill’s expiration at the end of September.

And while we’re no longer in the throes of summer, the impacts of last year’s wildfires and drought are still making an impact. Over 1 million acres were lost during Montana’s 2017 wildfire season, including many farming and ranching lands. During the summer, I worked hard to secure additional funding and flexibilities for Montana farmers and ranchers.

By working with Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue and Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, we were able to authorize grazing and haying on Conservation Reserve Program acreage, open the Charles M. Russell Wildlife Refuge for emergency grazing relief, and obtain important extensions to ensure that producers have the resources and time to repair the damage from the summer.

Our state’s immense agriculture resources put us in an ideal position to help feed not only our nation, but the world. In order to do this and compete with international markets, though, Montana’s growers need to be able to efficiently export their world-class products. That’s why I’ll continue working hard for more opportunities for Montana’s producers.

Unfortunately, with the price of many commodities at decade-lows, many Montana producers are struggling. To make matters worse, some nations are not upholding their end of the bargain within trade agreements while our farms remain under strict regulation. Montana sugar farmers can compete with anyone, but some foreign governments heavily subsidize sugar production. This distorts world markets and puts Montana and U.S. producers at a disadvantage. I will continue fighting to protect the critical sugar program in the farm bill, ensure our trade agreements are enforced and ensure that Montana sugar farmers are able to compete on a level-playing field.

Montana’s producers also need to be able to compete fairly throughout our nation. During my time in Congress, I have successfully fought to prevent a burdensome Vermont food labeling law from being implemented on a national scale. This discriminatory and unnecessary regulation would have hamstrung Montana’s number one industry, directly putting hundreds of jobs at risk and increasing prices for Montana families. This effort was nothing more than an attack on Montana farm and ranch operations and would have been devastating to our sugar beet industry. You can be sure, I will fight any regulations impacting Montana agriculture are not based on sound science.

We also just closed out 2017 with historic tax cuts for hardworking Montanans. Over 700 million taxpayer dollars that were headed to Washington, D.C. every year will now stay in the pockets of Montanans instead. I fought hard for Main Street businesses — farms and ranches, bakeries, and construction companies — and I want to tell you, we secured $100 billion dollars in tax cuts for these businesses. These tax cuts will help Montana farmers and ranchers be more competitive and allow them to continue to invest in their operations and communities.

As we move toward the next farm bill, and as 2018 unfolds, I want to hear from you. Please keep in touch so I can best serve the interests of Montana agriculture – it’s one of my top priorities in Congress. I look forward to continuing to work with all of you to defend and grow Montana agriculture for generations to come. Thank you for what you do.

Of the six pile grounds, we are down to three: Savage Pile (18,000 tons), Sugar Valley (92,000 tons) and Factory Yard (47,000 tons). Within the next four days, we will have sliced all non-ventilated beets. At the current slice rate, we should complete slicing by Feb. 15, and campaign by Feb. 22.

The factory has had a good run, Slice averaging 6,349 tons per day, while producing an average of 17,812 CWT or 1,781,200 lbs. of sugar each day. To date we’ve sliced 825,597 tons of beets and produced 2,316,270 CWT or 231,627,000 pounds of sugar.

The extreme cold makes processing beets all the more difficult. All of our employees have done a phenomenal job working through the cold. A big thank you goes out to each employee.

As a food manufacture, each year we are audited for Food Safety and Food Quality. These are two and a half day audits which the auditor inspects every corner of the factory, interviews employees, and examines all policies and paperwork.

The idea is that our customers can review the results of the audit to determine whether they purchase sugar from our facility.

On Jan. 11, our factory completed the unannounced audit, scoring a 98 percent, receiving an EXCELLENT rating. Credit goes to all employees for this accomplishment.

It was a hot, dry, and challenging season in many respects for Montana’s ag communities.

The sugar beet harvest was a bright spot. I am pleased to see that we had a near-record sugar beet crop in 2017. Montana continues to produce high grade sugar beets, and we can all be proud of a harvest that again contributed nearly $100 million to the state’s economy.

In order to feed a growing world the greatest products Montana has to offer, we must continue to enhance and advance the agricultural industry. Many of our farmers have diversified, not just with the crops they raise, but also in the way they raise those crops.

This diversification has helped the industry stay on the right track, even with recent declines in prices and significant drought conditions.

It is vitally important that we continue to lead the nation in pulse crop production. I had the honor of signing into law a new tax incentive for the construction and operation of pulse crop processing plants in Montana, so that our producers can continue to innovate and be at the forefront of the agriculture industry.

Research has proven to be incredibly important to agriculture. Whether it’s finding a seed variety that will do well in a certain area, or researching new ways to plant and harvest, we must continue to invest in these projects. This research can also help us all to be better prepared for extreme weather, new pest and disease outbreaks, or changing global markets. And as technology, from drones to big data to precision agriculture, plays an ever-increasing role in how we grow and produce our foods, we have greater opportunities to increase yields and efficiencies.

Much like the agricultural industry, Montana’s economy continues to strengthen and diversify. High-tech businesses attracted to our state and quality of life are providing high-wage jobs for Montana families.

Our unemployment rate remains below the national level and more Montanans are at work than ever before in our state’s history. Wage growth in Montana is among the highest in the nation. We also lead the nation in manufacturing growth.

Agriculture posted employment gains over the last year, with the fastest payroll employment growth over the last five years. Our farmers and ranchers continue to provide an economic base that is so critical to Montana’s overall economic health.

My administration remains committed to expanding opportunities domestically and abroad for Montana’s producers. We have had some great successes with market development for a variety of commodities, and just last week the Montana Department of Agriculture was awarded a grant to continue market development for our world-class beef genetics.

As Montanans increasingly look to shop and eat locally, we continue to look toward enhancing and increasing the use of locally-grown and Grown in Montana products within the state.

Thank you to all of Montana’s sugar beet farmers. Your hard work will ensure that sugar beets remain a vibrant crop in our state. We are both excited and optimistic about the future of our state as Montana’s agricultural industry continues to be a primary driver of the economy and of our communities.

The MonDak Ag Research Summit was held November 15th at the Richland County Event Center in Sidney. Agricultural scientists and researchers from the NDSU Williston Research Extension Center, MSU Eastern Agricultural Research Center, and USDA-ARS Northern Plains Agricultural Research Lab presented current and past research results.

The presentations included management strategies that can save both dryland and irrigated growers time and money. The topics presented at the MonDak Ag Research Summit were Planting Fusarium Headlight Contaminated Seed, Effect of Seed Treatments for Control of Rhizoctonia Root Rot of Sugarbeets, Biological Control of the Wheat Stem Sawfly, Microbial Control of Wheat Stem Sawfly, Update on Invasive Weeds and Biocontrol, Soil Health in Diverse Dryland Cropping Systems, Irrigated Cropping Sequence with Sugarbeets and Soybeans, Pulse Crop Variety Performance, Small Grain Varieties for Irrigated Production, Small Grain Varieties for Dryland Production, High Tunnel Vegetable Production, and Grasshopper Outbreak Prediction.

Audrey Kalil, Plant Pathologist at the Williston Research Center, talked about the effects of planting Fusarium-infected seed in a field. Some solutions for increasing yields of infected crops are to clean seed, check germination rate, treat with fungicide, adjust planting population based on germination of seeds, or avoid planting Fusarium-infected seed with high levels of Deoxynivalenol (DON).

Frankie Crutcher, Plant Pathologist at the Eastern Agricultural Research Center, discussed the effects of Rhizoctonia Root Rot on Sugarbeets and the effects seed treatments have on the disease. Rhizoctonia Root Rot is a disease caused by a fungus and is one of the most damaging sugar beet diseases nationwide that is common in the MonDak area. Crutcher's research included effects of planting date, maturity on disease incidence, and severity of durum in Eastern Montana. She also displayed posters that showcased information/research about the development of a non-destructive pulse seed DNA extraction methodology for disease diagnostic and breeding applications.

Tatyana Rand, Research Entomologist a part of the Pest Management Research Unit at the USDA-ARS Northern Plains Agricultural Research Lab in Sidney, presented a PowerPoint on biological control of the wheat stem sawfly. The wheat stem sawfly is known to be one of the most destructive pests in wheat production in Montana. The pest is responsible for an annual loss of an estimated $25 to $30 million. Rand discussed research on wheat stem sawfly and how to implement and evaluate management tactics against the pest to decrease crop losses. She also presented a poster board about the effects of grassland habitats on wheat stem sawfly infestations and biological control.

Don Tanaka, retired ARS scientist, spoke about soil health in diverse dryland cropping systems of the northern Great Plains. Tanaka presented information on how to increase organic matter of the soil, increase biomass production, maintain good soil cover, and how to use appropriate water use to different crop types. By maintaining low soil disturbance, cropping systems such as no-till will help sustain a soil cover, which will increase soil health.

Research Leader and Research Agronomist a part of the Agricultural Systems Research Unit at the USDA-ARS Northern Plains Agricultural Research Lab, Bart Stevens discussed irrigated cropping sequence with sugarbeets and soybeans and sugarbeet response to tillage and nitrogen management. Stevens also presented a poster that included research of sugarbeet response to seed position relative to fertilizer band in a strip tillage system.

Chengci Chen, Superintendent and Cropping Systems Agronomist at the MSU Eastern Agricultural Research Center, presented the topic, Pulse Crop Variety Performance in Eastern Montana and also sugarbeet response to tillage and nitrogen management. Chen showcased a poster with Abdelaziz Nilahyane, Post Doc at the MSU Eastern Ag Research Center, about spring wheat and durum yield and quality improved by micronutrients.

Austin Link, Agronomy Research Specialist, and Tyler Tjelde, Irrigation Agronomist from the Williston Research Center talked about small cereal grain varieties for irrigated and dryland production. The talk included durum, wheat, oats, and barley. Link also presented a poster that included research about the effects of cropping sequence, ripping, and manure on pipeline reclamation in Western North Dakota.

Kyla Splichal Horticulture Research Specialist, at the Williston Research Center presented a talk on high tunnel vegetable production. High tunnels are unheated greenhouses that help producers lengthen their growing season so that they can increase profitability and productivity of their crop. Splichal performed a research project on a Rimol high tunnel for vegetable and cut flower research. The goal of the research is to inform growers when to plant, what pest management issues to expect, and to develop a communication center for North Dakota high tunnel growers. Splichal also presented a poster at the event with the topic "Hope Selections for North Dakota".

Research entomologist at the USDA-ARS Northern Plains Agricultural Research Lab, David Branson discussed a grasshopper outbreak prediction and the understanding of grasshopper ecology at the event. Branson has been performing research on ways to prevent a grasshopper scourge by uncovering the ecology and biology underpinning grasshopper population surges. He is also researching ways to decrease the need for aerially sprayed pesticides that have been used to stop grasshopper outbreaks in the past.

During the event, lunch was served by the Meadowlark Brewing Company and sponsored by the Northern Pulse Growers Association. Throughout lunch, Brian Gion, Marketing Director of the Northern Pulse Growers Association (NPGA) talked about the 2017-2018 pulse updates on marketing and exporting of pulse crops. Dion also discussed how NPGA works as a trade association to increase pulse growers profitability through both international and domestic marketing, research, government relations, and education.

Producers from around the MonDak area that attended the event had opportunities to interact one-on-one with the local scientists and agronomists. Group discussions were held and local producers asked questions about their operation and about crop diseases. A total of 31 posters were showcased that contained information about current and past research projects performed by the agronomists. The event featured a collaboration of agricultural growers in the community that came together to familiarize themselves with the impact scientific research conducted at local research labs has on modern agriculture.

“We got about 31.25 tons to an acre. That gives us just over a million tons. We’re happy about that,” said Duane Peters, agriculture manger for Sidney Sugars.

The sugar industry pumps about $100 million into the Montana economy annually.

Eastern Montana farmers stopped digging beets Oct. 25, which is a typical finish. But the growers fired up their beet diggers in mid-September to deal with an expected bumper crop. In 2016, a larger-than-normal harvest kept Sidney Sugars processing into March.

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Western Sugar Cooperative farmers in southern Montana harvested 36.4 tons per acre, the second largest yield for sugar beet farmers feeding the Western factory in Billings. The sugar count was 17.4 percent.

Farms in southcentral Montana started out with an exceptionally wet spring, but not the cool temperatures that hurt plant growth. Fair fall weather helped harvest, with the exception of a few days.

“We dealt with some warm and wet weather early on in the harvest, which caused us some delays, but the weather straightened out towards the end of October,” said Randall Jobman, Western’s vice president of agriculture in the northern region. “The beets went into the piles in good shape, and we expect to finish the campaign in mid February.”

In the Lovell, Wyoming, area, sugar beet tons were down to 27.9 and a sugar count of 17.2 percent.

Sugar beets are stored outside in piles where a steady stream of factory-bound trucks are loaded from September through February. Hot days are the big concern for piled beets, which naturally generate heat that can turn to rot if temperatures are too hot.

Ridges on top of this sugarbeet pile are smoothed out like those in the background to prevent spoilage.

By Dianne Swanson | RoundUpWeb.com
It's a bit unusual to see a Sno Cat driving on top of a huge pile of sugar beets, but Richard Albin was doing just that last week at the Sugar Valley station, Fairview. Now that beet harvest is complete, the goal at Sidney Sugars is to keep those beets at their optimum quality until all the processing is done, about mid-February.

The science of storage has been studied extensively by Kelly Thomas, plant physiologist/ genetics with American Crystal. Through years of study, Thomas has documented the activity in beet piles and how storage can be improved. During harvest, the pilers create ridges at the top, creating a chimney effect which creates hot spots when the beets respirate.

In 1992, Roger Hill, president of Sidney Sugars, Don Lind, Sidney factory manager, Dave Melin agricultural manager and Albin devised a plan to even out the ridges to better preserve the beets. Albin uses a Bombardier 350 h.p. Sno Cat with a 14' blade to level the tops of the beet piles in the Sidney Sugars growing area. He was headed to Savage next and possibly on to Billings. He's leveled beet piles as far away as Greely, CO and is on his 5th machine. He enjoys the work and says, "I'd be plowing snow in Red Lodge this winter if I didn't have cattle to feed every day." He will also plow snow off the beet piles this winter if needed.

Sidney Sugars also uses passive and forced air ventilation to cool the beets. This year 72,000 tons are under passive ventilation with another 95,000 in Fairview and Sidney under forced air, which is a huge increase from last year. The goal is to give the beets a good chill, but not freeze, so fans are run at certain temperature ranges. Agriculturalists Kathryn Cayko at Sugar Valley and Vanessa Pooch at the factory yard are on call 24/7. They both set alarms to alert them if the temperature gets too warm and they have to get the fans turned on, even if it's at 2 a.m. That regimen typically lasts until December, or the first good snow fall, or when the temperature hits 0 degrees. "The beets store really well with the cold air from the first few months," Cayko said.

Richard Albin stands beside his Sno Cat after completing work at the Sugar Valley station.

Sidney Sugars flies the piles and uses an infared camera to capture the temperature of the beets. This year they will also utilize a company out of Watford City that employs drones. The fly-overs show a dramatic difference in the temperature of the beets with forced air ventilation, and they also show any trouble spots that may need to be dealt with. Depending on the results, Sidney Sugars hopes to do more with drones in the future. The first test will take place next week with fly-overs continuing once a month through campaign.

Final results are in for this year's harvest with 31.2 tonnage and 17.99 sugar. All beets have been hauled from the Culbertson area and Powder River should be completed next week. Non-vented beets should be at the factory by mid to late January followed by passive, then forced air ventilated beets.

By Anna Dragseth | RoundUpWeb.com
Sidney Sugars has implemented six strip trials on sugar beet seed varieties during this 2017 growing season. The purpose of these trials is to identify what sugar beet seed variety proves to be most successful in this area. Each seed variety is used in different locations to determine how they perform under various environments, soils, and management.

At the beginning of the growing season, Sidney Sugars asked local growers if they would be willing to participate in growing strip trials on their farm. “There is also another trial conducted along with assistance from MSU Research in Sidney, MT that we call our “Coded Varieties Trials.” This usually involves up to 30 different varieties from all major beet seed companies,” said Duane Peters, Agricultural Manager at Sidney Sugars.

The sugar beet seed varieties used in the strip trials are from Betaseed and ACH Crystal Sugar Company. Betaseed is the leading sugar beet seed brand for farmers in North America that has a high yield potential infused with the industry standard for disease tolerance. ACH Crystal Sugar Company is also known as a premier sugar beet seed supplier for many producers across America and is known for producing high-quality sugar beet seed varieties. Sidney Sugars utilizes these companies to offer six local growers the opportunity to participate in beet seed trials. They have a total of six types, three varieties from each seed brand.

There are two growers each from Savage, Sidney, and Fairview. The six farmers plant and take care of the strip trials as they would typically take care of their own sugar beets. Sidney Sugars employees label the strip trials by putting signs up in the grower’s fields, so that other farmers may review the trials. The employees also take detailed and precise notes and then record the progress of the sugar beets throughout the growing season.

During the fall, growers harvest the sugar beets separately from their beets. After harvesting the sugar beets, Sidney Sugars runs quality analyses of each variety for tons per acre and sugar percentage. “The main goal of these trials is to see how varieties perform under “true” grower farming practices,” said Peters. The information on the strip trials will then be shared with local growers at a seed meeting in November.

Sugar beet harvest gets off to strong start in areaSidney Herald LeaderSugar beet harvest is way ahead of most years at this time. Duane Peters, agricultural manager at Sidney Sugars, reports that about 33 percent of harvest has been completed as of Monday morning. Part of the reason for the good schedule is that pre ...

Sugarbeets are a sweet deal for MontanaKRTV Great Falls NewsWhen fully grown, a sugarbeet is about a foot long, weighs two-to-five pounds, and is about 18% sucrose. They are processed at 23 factories that are located near the fields, because beets are a perishable vegetable. Factories generally operate around ...

Sugarbeet harvest begins early in eastern MontanaFarm and Ranch GuideSIDNEY, Mont. – Sugarbeet harvest is off and running in the Yellowstone Valley, a couple of weeks earlier this year. For the MonDak Beet Growers Association in northeast Montana/northwest North Dakota, a good crop is on the way. “Our most recent root ...

Better late than never as rainfall hits drought-stricken MontanaBillings GazetteRain pools in tire tracks at the edge of a sugar beet field on the Billings west end on Friday, September 15, 2017. CASEY PAGE, Gazette Staff. Precipitation fell in Montana this week with nearly three-quarters of the state in severe drought, bringing ...

Sugar factories fire up early in Billings, SidneyBillings GazetteStatewide, sugar beet farmers rate 30 percent of their crop's condition as good to excellent, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service. The quality is much lower than the five-year average. Extreme drought in Eastern Montana is ...

Rotation Can Make You RicherThe RoundupSugarbeets in a sugarbeet, wheat, corn rotation. There was no tillage prior to seeding. (Photo submitted). It's been said that two's company, but three's a crowd. While this old aphorism may be true in some circumstances, it fails to hold as much water ...

Sidney Sugars holds root pull to measure area's sugar beet cropSidney Herald LeaderA tare bag is needed to carry the beet samples. A beet knife is used to cut off the beet's leaves. Although much technology has occurred in the ag industry, Pooch notes that beet knives remain the same as they have been for decades. Then, there is a ...

Memories of following the beetsThe Torrington TelegramIt just dawned on me this morning that I have been writing about sugar beet harvest for 25 years. The first eight years were here in Torrington, taking pictures and reporting on harvest progress for Holly Sugar. Then 17 years covering the end of Holly ...

New approach to harvest this yearSidney Herald LeaderActively is at a higher level than usual during this time of year at Sidney Sugars. That's because officials have decided to have sugar beet harvest be conducted in a different fashion than has traditionally been performed. Pre-piling will start on Sept.